There is no ground control
by Kaesteranya
Summary: Flash fiction pieces and standalone shorts for Holland, Talho, and their relationship. Spoilerific, of course, and ranging from happy to sad.
1. Gravity kills

**Gravity kills.**

_Takes place during that part in the anime where Holland's crew is exploring that mine. …Uh, yeah. I wish I could be more specific, but it's been too long. Orz_

_The title is taken from the 31 Days theme for August 3, 2008._

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As he sits at the very edge of an abandoned launch pad, cross-legged and smoking and alone with the wind and the horizon, Holland realizes that it's been only too long since he's touched the sky. He used to feel at home up there, whether he was on his board or in the cockpit of his mech – he used to feel like all he had to do was reach out and he'd be floating among clouds, drifting through the perfect blue. It was where he used to run away to, when things at home got too difficult. It is what his crew wanders through now, drifting from one place to the next, refusing to admit that their captain has no idea what he's doing, trusting in the fact that someday he's going to find a way.

Holland wonders how something so familiar had suddenly become so distant without him knowing. He wonders if it's because of the way he looks up sometimes and realizes that Talho's frozen herself in time just to get him to notice her. He wonders if it has something to do with the snot-nosed brat with the messed up hair who's only too much like him.

Finally, after two hours' too much of thinking, Holland tells himself, for the umpteenth time, that he hasn't lost the sky just yet, he's only outgrown it.


	2. Domesticity of longdistance relations

**Domesticity of long-distance relationships.**

_The title is taken from the 31 Days theme for July 7, 2008._

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From the way they act, one would think that they weren't on the same ship. Sometimes, when Talho is angry, she'd refer to Holland in the past tense, as though he were already dead to her. Sometimes, when Holland is angry, he'd call Talho "that woman" or he'd refuse to say anything at all. They don't share a bed anymore – he makes it a point to come in late when he knows that she's waiting in his (their) room because it gives him an excuse to take the couch. She doesn't bring him food when he's working too hard – she only leaves it somewhere in plain sight without a note, without a trace of her touch. Sometimes, when things get really bad, they talk over each other's heads, or have someone pass the message. And Talho always, always hates it when that funny girl with the pink eyes is up on the bridge, because with the way Holland acts, you'd think she was the best thing for him since sliced bread and pornography.

It gets easier later on, after one year of this routine and then another, and then another – they're not so young anymore but not quite that old, so professionalism is something that they both feel needs to be maintained at all costs. So she stays on as his pilot and he stays on as her captain and they talk sometimes, and it's nice sometimes, but there's always this wall between them, thin as onion paper, clear as glass.

They always make it a point to look at each other when they think that one of them's not looking, but the other party notices – Talho's been with Holland too long to know that he watches her while she pulls the tanktop over her head in the bathroom and Holland's been with Talho too long to know that she's got this certain eyebrow twitch when she wants to say something but doesn't. They're tied together without the string, tied tight.

So they both tell themselves that they are fine with this, fine with living like they don't need each other at all.


	3. Better three hours too soon than

**Better three hours too soon than a minute too late.**

_Spoilers for the ending, especially with regard to Talho and Holland. The title is taken from the 31 Days theme for January 26, 2008._

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Holland was ready for Talho's water breaking long before she was ready for it – he had been on pins and needles ever since she entered the ninth and last month of the term, smoking too much because he didn't want to be caught asleep when the Big Moment finally happened. As it was, she barely managed to finish the phrase "I think my water broke" before he had swept her off her feet and was piling her into the car, to drive her to the hospital no matter what the cost. She was almost positive that if Holland had his way, he would have rampaged through the streets in a robot if it meant cutting travel time down by half.

She would only hear about it later since she was the one in labor and that pretty much occupied any respective mother-to-be's time, but Holland had apparently walked the carpet of the hospital corridor thin just outside the operation room, and when he wasn't wearing out the carpet he was the bundle of nerves on the couch, knee bouncing with unconcealed energy, face scrunched up with the sort of concentration that he used to reserve only for maintaining his board or shooting particularly difficult bogeys out of the sky. He smoked even though the nurses were already sending him death rays through their eyes, and accepted no food, no drink, no offer to take his place.

Suffice to say, Talho was not surprised when she finally popped the baby – their new son – out and Holland promptly crashed soon after barging into her room and checking her over three times, chin on her bosom, snoring against her skin. She only laughed, shifted the baby unto one arm and had Moondoggie take their picture.


End file.
